Madhya Pradesh High Court
Ashok Kumar vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 3 March, 2025
Author: Pranay Verma
Bench: Pranay Verma
NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-IND:5607
1 WP-8025-2025
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT INDORE
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE PRANAY VERMA
ON THE 3 rd OF MARCH, 2025
WRIT PETITION No. 8025 of 2025
ASHOK KUMAR
Versus
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS
Appearance:
Shri Arihant Kumar Nahar, Advocate for the petitioner.
Shri Mukesh Parwal, Govt. Advocate for the respondent/State .
ORDER
1. By this petition preferred under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs :-
Reliefs :-
7.1 It is therefore most respectfully prayed that the instant petition may kindly be allowed and the respondent may kindly be directed to stop demolishing and proceed in accordance of directions of In re Directions in the matter of demolition of structures reported in 2024(13) SCALE 600.
7.2 Any other relief which Hon'ble Court deems fit in the favour of petitioner.
2. Leaned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondents are demolishing his property without following the due process of law. It is further submitted that a civil suit has already been preferred by the petitioner in which an application for issuance of temporary injunction is pending despite which the respondents are bent upon demolishing property of the petitioner. A prayer has been made for directing the respondents to follow the Signature Not Verified Signed by: PREETHA HARI NAIR Signing time: 3/4/2025 5:39:08 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-IND:5607 2 WP-8025-2025 due process of law.
3. Learned counsel for the respondent/State has submitted that action in the matter shall be taken in accordance with law.
4. It is observed that though a civil suit has been preferred by the petitioner, but no temporary injunction have been granted therein and the application for the said purpose is pending. Be that as it may, even if there is no injunction by the civil court then also before proceedings to take any action against the petitioner, the respondents are required to follow the due process of law as has been held by the Apex Court in Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of structures reported in 2024(13) SCALE 600 in which it has been held as under :-
91. At the outset, we clarify that these directions will not be applicable if there is an unauthorized structure in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an order for demolition made by a Court of law.
A. NOTICE i. No demolition should be carried out without a prior show cause notice returnable either in accordance with the time provided by the local municipal laws or within 15 days' time from the date of service of such notice, whichever is later.
ii. The notice shall be served upon the owner/occupier by a registered post A.D. Additionally, the notice shall also be affixed conspicuously on the outer portion of the structure in question.
iii. The time of 15 days, stated herein above, shall start from the date of receipt of the said notice.
iv. To prevent any allegation of backdating, we direct that as soon as the show cause notice is duly served, intimation thereof shall be sent to the office of Collector/District Magistrate of the district digitally by email and an auto generated reply acknowledging receipt of the mail should also be issued from the office of the Collector/District Magistrate. The Collector/DM shall designate a nodal officer and also assign an email address and communicate the same to all the municipal and other authorities in charge of building regulations and demolition within one month from today.
Signature Not Verified Signed by: PREETHA HARI NAIR Signing time: 3/4/2025 5:39:08 PMNEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-IND:5607 3 WP-8025-2025 v. The notice shall contain the details regarding:
a. the nature of the unauthorized construction. b. the details of the specific violation and the grounds of demolition. c. a list of documents that the noticee is required to furnish along with his reply. d. The notice should also specify the date on which the personal hearing is fixed and the designated authority before whom the hearing will take place; vi. Every municipal/local authority shall assign a designated digital portal, within 3 months from today wherein details regarding service/pasting of the notice, the reply, the show cause notice and the order passed thereon would be available. B. PERSONAL HEARING i. The designated authority shall give an opportunity of personal hearing to the person concerned.
ii. The minutes of such a hearing shall also be recorded. C. FINAL ORDER i. Upon hearing, the designated authority shall pass a final order. ii. The final order shall contain:
a. the contentions of the noticee, and if the designated authority disagrees with the same, the reasons thereof;
b. as to whether the unauthorized construction is compoundable, if it is not so, the reasons therefor;
c. if the designated authority finds that only part of the construction is unauthorized/non-compoundable, then the details thereof.
d. as to why the extreme step of demolition is the only option available and other options like compounding and demolishing only part of the property are not available.
D. AN OPPORTUNITY OF APPELLATE AND JUDICIAL SCRUTINY OF THE FINAL ORDER.
i. We further direct that if the statute provides for an appellate opportunity and time for filing the same, or even if it does not so, the order will not be implemented for a period of 15 days from the date of receipt thereof. The order shall also be displayed on the digital portal as stated above.
ii. An opportunity should be given to the owner/occupier to remove the unauthorized construction or demolish the same within a period of 15 days. Only after the period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice has expired and the owner/occupier has not removed/demolished the unauthorized construction, and if the same is not Signature Not Verified Signed by: PREETHA HARI NAIR Signing time: 3/4/2025 5:39:08 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-IND:5607
4 WP-8025-2025 stayed by any appellate authority or a court, the concerned authority shall take steps to demolish the same. It is only such construction which is found to be unauthorized and not compoundable shall be demolished.
iii. Before demolition, a detailed inspection report shall be prepared by the concerned authority signed by two Panchas.
E. PROCEEDINGS OF DEMOLITION i. The proceedings of demolition shall be video-graphed, and the concerned authority shall prepare a demolition report giving the list of police officials and civil personnel that participated in the demolition process. Video recording to be duly preserved.
ii. The said demolition report should be forwarded to the Municipal Commissioner by email and shall also be displayed on the digital portal.
5. This petition is, hence, disposed off with a direction to the respondents to take action in the matter by duly following the guidelines as laid down by the Apex Court as aforesaid. It is, however, made clear that this order shall not in any manner come in the way of the Civil Court while deciding the application for issuance of temporary injunction filed by the petitioner.
With the aforesaid directions, the petition stands disposed off.
(PRANAY VERMA) JUDGE pn Signature Not Verified Signed by: PREETHA HARI NAIR Signing time: 3/4/2025 5:39:08 PM